Former Community – We Moved
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"How about your (deliverable)" power move
This is a power move I've encountered more than once at work.
Once was from a girl who was supposed to be a report of mine.
That and other power moves she'd pull ensured that I taught her nothing about sales.
Recently an agency I was working with did it again.
They were doing some SEO work for TPM, and they'd often ask something like:
- So, have you prepared that giveaway?
- (... ) Please do it so we can test it (this was their CEO, so maybe he thought he'd have more power to pull that)
- Any news on your side on that article?
- Have you done that articles? Let us know when you do it so we can check it (<---- power move to frame my deliverable as a show-stopper for their work)
As for everything: context is king and this MAY be OK or even good in some cases.
For example, if they deliver great work and want to move forward, it's a good sign that they're asking for more.
Or if your part of the work is a milestone that needs to be done, it can also be a good sign.
However, it's a power move when the goal is to task, take the lead, or shift the focus away from something they'd rather not talk about.
These folks would often do it once they'd be done reporting. It was a way to jump skip "and that was all from our side" which would thread-expand that it wasn't much that they'd achieved. And to indirectly frame the call as about to end, and to end it on a fault of mine.
In the beginning they used it to shift the focus away from the lack of results.
A bad move because as long as I see good work, I never expect immediate results -as a matter of fact, I think of immediate results as exceptions-. But that still cost them a lot of social capital.
So as soon as I felt it had become a power move to shift the focus away from the lack of actual work, we stopped working together.
P.S.:
Still thinking about a name for this power move.
Very interesting.
The legal case I got recently hinges on an engineering firm not delivering projects on time.
Every time they would deliver some partial, half-baked drawing, they would immediately blame shift by using the exact same power move you mention.
Firm: We enclose our projects. As for the deadline for you to appoint a director of works, we grant you ten more days.
Your post now makes me realize they did it on purpose to shift blame away from their faulty performance.
Some sort of “blame-shifting by focusing on the other side’s supposed delays”.
Thanks for sharing, Lucio!
I'm not sure a name for this power move that encapsulates all of its use cases is possible (and, as always, happy to be proven wrong on that).
At least, not one that wouldn't clash with our already-existing terms:
- Covert blame-shifting manipulation: to shift the blame from one party to another unfairly. (E.g. "Have you done that article? Let us know when you do it so we can check it" may unfairly blame you as obstructing their progress.)
- Covert focus-shifting manipulation: to shift focus and turn the tables as a frame-control technique. (E.g. Similar to the above, they shift the focus from their lack of progress to your lack of completion on a task that it's implied is supposedly holding them up.)
Albeit, the above aren't official TPM terms yet since the PU lesson that shares them omits the "covert" part.
Maybe the power move could be called something like "manipulative obstacle-creation" (to underline that they're creating false obstacles) to use in addition to one of the above existing terms (that underlines they're blaming the obstacle on you).
Other names along that line may be something like:
- "Manipulative obstruction-creation"
- "Manipulative hindrance-manufacturing"
- "Manipulative barrier-creation"
Hello Lucio,
thanks for sharing, very interesting. What about: "whataboutasking"? As it's like a "whataboutism + tasking" or something along those lines. I like your ideas Ali, especially the first one.
By the way, I remember a post where a TPM member (maybe Matthew) mentioned working on a new business idea with two other people.
They all agreed to make a certain number of sales calls/sales that day.
When by the end of the day they reconvened to discuss how it went, one of the guys said he hadn't done any sales because he wasn't sure about something or had a question.
Then, when the question was answered he said he'd get started "tomorrow."
It wasn't as big of a power move for this thread's purposes because the manipulator didn't seem to imply that it was their lack of explaining things well why he didn't get anything done (and, honestly, that would've been pretty bold of him).
But, it was still manipulative nonetheless and I think Lucio even responded saying that most people would've stopped at saying they weren't sure about something as why they didn't get the sales done. To go so far as to ask for clarity on that thing was a negative sign. (And then I think Matthew and Lucio discussed business partnerships vs going solo in another thread soon after.)
If anyone remembers where to find that post, it could be a good addition to this thread.
Pretty much every day. I get power moving team members asking,about small stuff i m meant to be doing while they re lste on big stuff. My answers always the same. I think we have an action tagged for that.
Or "yep at the right time. Whats important now is..." thank you PU
"yep at the right time. Whats important now is...
Thanks Transitioned in my notes.
Quote from Transitioned on December 2, 2023, 4:11 amPretty much every day. I get power moving team members asking,about small stuff i m meant to be doing while they re lste on big stuff. My answers always the same. I think we have an action tagged for that.
Or "yep at the right time. Whats important now is..." thank you PU
LOL, had to laugh at "pretty much every day" :D.
Yeah, this may be rather common indeed.
Probably even more common for project managers than line managers since various manipulators and power movers feel stronger when there is less direct authority over them.
Golden answer anyway :).
Quote from Bel on December 1, 2023, 11:20 pmVery interesting.
The legal case I got recently hinges on an engineering firm not delivering projects on time.
Every time they would deliver some partial, half-baked drawing, they would immediately blame shift by using the exact same power move you mention.
Firm: We enclose our projects. As for the deadline for you to appoint a director of works, we grant you ten more days.
Your post now makes me realize they did it on purpose to shift blame away from their faulty performance.
Some sort of “blame-shifting by focusing on the other side’s supposed delays”.
Yeah, same overall dynamic, just more "legally dominant/bullying" and obvious.
In this case, I may have appointed the new director if it was something I was supposed to do just to eliminate the excuse.
But I wouldn't have communicated it as a reply (or they could use that in their next reply to shift focus once again) and instead talked/focused on their work (and how sub-par it was).
P.S.:
@ Ali / John, thank you so much for the ideas on the names!
Going to take some more time to mentally chew and reflect on them.
Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on December 2, 2023, 11:07 amIn this case, I may have appointed the new director if it was something I was supposed to do just to eliminate the excuse.
But I wouldn't have communicated it as a reply (or they could use that in their next reply to shift focus once again) and instead talked/focused on their work (and how sub-par it was).
My client did exactly as you mention.
And the counterparty later obtained the injunction by mentioning to the Judge precisely that my client had in fact appointed the director of works - which "meant" that my client had "accepted the project".
Very smart. And also retrospectively very planned out consciously in advance.
